The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has criminal charged Barclays Bank over a $3bn loan the company agreed with the State of Qatar during the financial crash.

The Bank's parent company, Barclays PLC, and several of the firm's former top executives were charged in connection with the same loan in June last year, but the SFO has now decided to extend the charges to the Bank itself.

The charges centre on investments secured from Qatari investors in 2008 as the banking sector went into meltdown.

In order to avoid asking the UK government for a taxpayer bailout, Barclays raised almost £12bn from investors in the Middle East, including the Qatari state sovereign wealth fund, to help it weather the storm.

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Video:Barclays and former bosses face prosecution

Shortly afterwards Barclays loaned $3bn (£2.2bn) to the State of Qatar.

The SFO investigation arose amid concerns that Barclays may have been in effect lending itself money, known as "financial assistance", which is illegal.

It was the first bank to face criminal charges over actions taken during the crisis.

Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank said in a statement that they intend to defend themselves against the charges, and do not expect there will be an impact on customers or clients as a result of the investigation.